Monday, April 14, 2008

"BINGKA SUJI" CAKE - CAKE "KUIH BINGKA"

After having thouroughly explained what "Pandanus" is in my Wednesday post (see link) and now that you know how to make "Pandan Extract/Juice" from scratch, I thought that you might want to put your new knowledge into practice...

About 3 years ago, while surfing on the great and enlightening Kuala Lumpur-based (Maylaysia) site named "Jo's Deli & Bakery" and encountering a gorgeous amount of mindboggling South East Asian and Nonya recipes, I stumbled upon an intriguing recipe which I copied, printed and classified religiously into one of my immense cookery/bakery folders.

After having eyed that recipe for months, I finely decided to buy some pandan leaves in order to prepare that much needed "Pandan Extract/Juice" and baked the promising cake that had already caught my attention in 2005!

The "Semolina Cake" that I'm talking about today is a common treatwhich is eaten throughout the day in Malaysia. In Asia (the South East Asian part especially), such bite-sized specialities are called "Kuih (Kue or Kueh)" and are, in some distant way, the alter ego of Western creations like cookies, puddings and cakes. On the other hand, they are far from our concept of "pastries" and baked good as "Kuihs" can seem very strange for us Westerner since it is something quite unknown to us.

In the Northern Malaysia states, "Kuihs" are generally sweet, but in the Southeast Peninsular states, they can also be savory. Almost all kuihs are flavored with coconut cream/milk, grated coconut, pandan and palm sugar (Gula Melaka). Their base and texture are confered by starchy ingredients such as rice flour, glutinous rice flour, glutinous rice, tapioca, mung beans (dry flour our pureed) and tapioca flour.

This "Binka Suji" cake is very consistent, yet smooth, moist, spongy and kind of springy. It ressembles and tastes (eggy) very much like a flan or a pudding. The pandan aroma is extremely fragrant, heady and somewhat quite close to vanilla. The delightful flavor of butter is also quite present and adds an interesting dimension to this cake. Not to forget that the "crust" is pleasantly crispy and golden brown...

A "Kuih" that is baked rapidly and which gives fantastic results! Don't zap that recipe. Be courageous enough to attempt a new culinary discovery!

Method:1. Line the bottom of a 20cm (8 inch) round cake pan with baking paper and grease the sides of the pan with butter.2. In a mixing bowl, whisk the eggs and sugar together until the sugar dissolves. Transfer that mixture to a saucepan.3. Add the semolina/cream of wheat, coconut milk, pandan juice, salt and water into the egg/sugar mixture in the saucepan.

4. Mix and stir constantly with a wooden spoon or a whisk

over medium heat until mixture becomes thick (see remarks).

5. Remove from the heat, add the melted butter and flour. Mix thouroughly and pour the batter into the prepared cake pan.

8. For the final 1 minute, turn on the grill (top heat) to obtain a crispy golden brown skin.

9. Cool completely on wire rack.

10. Cut and serve.

Remarks:

I used good-quality coconut milk (thick and not too watery), but you can also use coconut cream.Don't overheat the saucepan, otherwise you'll get "scrambled eggs".The cooked mixture should ressemble thick porridge.While using the grill, don't burn the top of your cake.

Serving suggestion:Serve with a fruit salad that has been aromatized with lime zests.

look at the magnifiscent color! oh i bet the taste is amazing. there is a Philippino stand i go to for coconut pandan frozen drinks that are to die for. love that flavor so much YUM! oh and rubs to fridolin, that cute little complainer :)